BX 9225 
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1884 




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M E MOIE 

OF TIIE 

LIFE. CHARACTER, AND METHOD 

OF 

Rev. JOSEPH NIMMO, 

HY HIS SON 

JOSEPH NIMMO, Jr. . 



WASHINGTON. D. C. 

GIBSON BROTHERS, PRINTERS. 
1SS4. 



7o /;/v j/j/rr. MARGARET JANE NIMMO. and my brot/ic 
WILLIAM HENRY DICKSON NIMMO ami GERSHOM 
HATTON NIMMO, this brief sketch of the life, 
character, and method of our beloved 
Pat her is affectionately inscribed. 

JOSEPH NIMMO, Jr. 

Washington. D. C, 

August 12th, 1SS4. 



Maiiopac Falls, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1884. 

Mr. Joseph Niiimo, Jr., 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: Wo are about celebrating our centennial, and are 
anxious to secure information regarding your father, a pastor 
here when this place was called "Red ^Iills." Can you help us? 
We would like to know of his life, work, character, and method. 
Hoping for an early reply, I remain 
Yours truly, 

HARRIS R. SCHENCK, 
Pustor 1'resbgterian Church. 



Washington-, D. C, Aug. 11///, 1884. 

Rev. Harris R. Schlnck. 

Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Jfahopac Falls: 
My Dkar Siu: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your let- 
ter of the 7th iust., and, in compliance with your request, enclose 
to you herewith such sketch of my father's "life, work, character, 
and method " as I have been able to prepare amid the pressure 
of somewhat engrossing duties. It has been my intention for 
many years to write a memoir of my father, but the pressure of 
business has caused the cherished purpose to be postponed from 
year to year. Besides, I have always felt an indefinable aversion 
to sitting down to the task of speaking of him us a man, coolly 
attempting to analyze his character, and to state his comparative 
merits, while my feeling towards him is always one of tender 
affection and of deep reverence. The whole tendency of my 
thoughts is to regard him only in the endearing relation of father. 



G 



He did Lot attain to n high degree of success according to 
earthly standards, for he was of " the children of light," and not 
of " the children of tliis world ;" but take him for all in all, his 
undoubtedly respectable talents; his scholarly and refined tastes ; 
his sweet, lovable disposition; his patience, prudence, sound judg- 
ment, high moral courage, perfect integrity, generosity, love and 
sympathy toward his fellow-men, never failing charity and refined 
courtesy, faith in God and his promises, and devotion to the divine 
mission to which he was called — regarding all these qualities, he 
was, I sincerely believe, the best man I ever knew. 

Wishing you a pleasant and profitable centennial, and great 
success in your work, 

I am, my dear sir, very truly yours, 

JOSEPH NIMMO, Jr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Joseph Nimmo, pastor of the Presbyterian 
church at Red Mills, New York, from 18M to 1840, 
was horn in Princess Anne County, Virginia, near Nor- 
folk,- about the year 1797. When only about six months 
old his father died, and at the age of six years he lost 
his mother. In consequence of these events the record 
of his birth was lost, and he never knew his exact age. 
His early life was passed at the home of an uncle, who 
was his legal guardian. When a mere lad he was placed 
in the store of a friend in Norfolk as clerk, with the view 
of preparing him for commercial life, but at the age of 
fourteen he had connected himself with the Presbyterian 
church of Norfolk, ami appears soon afterwards to have 
formed tin; determination to devote himself to the work 
of the Christian ministry. His income from his patri- 
mony, principally slaves, was sufficient to meet his needs 
for support during his academic, collegiate, and profes- 
sional course. 

While employed as clerk in Norfolk, that city was 
beleagured by the British fleet, which, during the war 
of 1812, dominated Chesapeake Baj*. Young Nimmo, 
although only about seventeen years of age, volunteered 
in the service of his country. At first he was refused on 
account of his youth and smallness of stature, but upon 
persistent entreaty he was allowed to shoulder his mus- 



8 



ket. and inarch with a hastily-formed company of recruits 
to Cranky Island, where one or two ineffectual attempts 
were made by the enemy to land and storm the defen- 
sive work which had been erected by the Americans at 
that point. 

A few years later Mr. Nimmo entered Hampden 
Sidney College, Virginia. His collegiate course was 
interrupted by a severe affliction. During his second or 
third year in college he was attacked with a disorder in 
his eyes which confined him for months to a darkened 
room. This occasioned a loss of about one year in his 
college course. A less resolute or devoted spirit would 
have succumbed, but he pushed on in the prosecution of 
his original purpose in life. In the year 18*2.'} lie was 
matriculated as ;i student of divinity in the Presbyterian 
Theological Seminary of Princeton, New Jersey. His 
diploma upon graduation hears date September 25, 
182(5, and is signed by Archibald Alexander, Samuel 
Miller, and Charles Hodge, professors — names resplen- 
dent in the history of the Presbyterian Church of the 
United States. 

While at Princeton a revival of religion took place 
in the military academy at West Point. At the re- 
quest of his friend, Rev. Mr. Bangs, chaplain of that 
post, a methodist clergyman, formerly of Norfolk, Ya., 
Mr. Nimmo, with two or three other students at Prince- 
ton, went to West Point for the purpose of aiding in 
the work among the cadets. The trip up and down 
the Hudson was made in a sailing vessel. This was 
about the year 18*2T>. Leonidas Polk, afterwards 
Bishop Polk of Mississippi, and subsequently General 
Polk of the Confederate Army, was among the con- 



verts. Between liiin and Mr. Nimmo there sprung up 
a warm friendship, wliicli lasted for many years. 

While he was at Princeton the great political ques- 
tion of the abolition of slavery began to be agitated. 
During his boyhood Mr. Nimmo had heard the ques- 
tion debated in Virginia, among the more conscientious 
and religious slave-holders, as to whether slave-holding 
should be regarded as an evil, or as a sin. But while at 
Princeton he became fully persuaded, in his own mind, 
that, as it existed at the South, it was both an evil and 
a sin, and this conviction led him to the heroic act of his 
life, viz., the freeing of his slaves, numbering, as near as 
can be ascertained, about fifteen. One or two families 
were sent to Liberia. The rest remained in Virginia. 
Mr. Nimmo declared that he would never preach the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ to men while holding his fellow- 
man in bondage. His friends protested earnestly and 
sharply against the step, for it was the relinquishment 
of his entire worldly possessions. But he was immov- 
able in his purpose. Upon his return to Norfolk he 
was offered by a personal friend the sum of one 
thousand dollars in cash for one of his men, which offer 
he declined. Several years afterwards, when a slave 
insurrection broke out in the counties adjoining Nor- 
folk, a law was passed expelling free Negroes from the 
State upon penalty of their being sold into slavery. 
Thereupon the man above alluded to, with others, 
destroyed their manumission papers, and claimed to 
be again the slaves of Mr. Nimmo. After awhile the 
excitement abated and again he set them free by papers 
avoiding the provision of the statutes. An incident 
may be related which serves to illustrate his abhor- 



10 



rcncc of slavery. About ten years after lie had manu- 
mitted his slaves lie visited Virginia with his family. 
The vessel lauded at Norfolk. His wife and children 
crossed over to Portsmouth by the ferry in advance, 
while he remained to look after baggage. Unfortu- 
nately, as he crossed over he saw at the ferry landing 
a stalwart Negro, lacerated and covered with blood, 
from what must have been an unusually severe castiga- 
tion, for the offence of having secreted himself on ship- 
board with the purpose of escaping to the land of 
freedom. When he joined his family he related the 
incident, and with an expression of horror upon his 
face exclaimed, " I want to get back to the North as 
soon as possible." 

Soon after the completion of his course in divinity at 
Princeton, the young licentiate received a call from the 
Presbyterian church at Portsmouth, Va., and he became 
the first pastor of that church. Here he met Hannah 
Dickson, to whom he was united in marriage January 22, 
1829. His wife's mother, the widow of Captain John 
Dickson, was a staunch Scotch Presbyterian and one of 
the pillars of the new church. Mr. Kimmo's first child, 
a son, was born at Portsmouth. Partly in consequence 
of ill health, but more on account of his aversion to 
bringing up a family under the demoralizing influences 
of slavery, he sought a charge in a northern State, and, 
during the year 18o0, became pastor of a Presbyterian 
church in the town of Huntington, Long Island, New 
York. Here there were born to him two sons and a 
daughter. 

In the year I83(j he received a call from the Presby- 
terian church at lied Mills, Putnam County, New York, 



11 



now known as the Church of Mahopac Falls, which call 
lie accepted, and removed with his family to his new 
field of duty in December of that year. His pastorate 
at Red Mills, although auspiciously begun, was soon 
clouded by disaster and dissension. About a year and 
a half after his removal to that place, July 5th, 1838, 
while driving out with his wife and daughter and a 
friend, his horse took fright and ran away. The entire 
party were thrown to the ground, and Sir. Nimmo re- 
ceived a compound fracture of one of his legs. This 
kept him from his pulpit for about four months. Soon 
after his convalescence the theological warfare, as be- 
tween the old school and the new school party of the 
Presbyterian Church, became a question of ecclesiastical 
partisanship in the church at Red Mills. The struggle 
was marked by the bitterness which has invariably 
characterized religious strumitis, for men are never so 
serious as when the appeal is to their consciences and to 
the promptings of their spiritual natures. ■ The new 
school party assumed the aggressive. On one occasion 
Mr. Nimmo was compelled, before an audience, sternly 
to rebuke a leader of the opposition for what he regarded 
as disorderly conduct, and an attempt to set at defiance 
the rightful authority of the pastor. 

This contest among the Presbyterians appears to have 
marked the close of a long period of warfare in the 
Christian Church, and the inauguration of a period of 
Christian unity amid denominational diversity. But, 
like the choppy cross-seas which follow the change in 
the direction of the wind after a protracted storm, it 
subjected the laboring bark to greater strains than when 
riding out the gale. The struggle as between " old 



12 



school " and " new school M resulted in embitterments 
which were paralyzing to the spiritual life of the church. 
Mr. Ninnno was a firm adherent of the old school faith, 
and manfully resisted the disorganizing attempts of the 
new school party. But he soon realized that it would 
be Letter for him to retire from a field of strife in which, 
unavoidably, he had been a participant, for the struggle 
finally degenerated into a social contest which assumed 
the form of two parties — the one in favor of, and the 
other opposed to, the pastor. Accordingly, in July, 
1840, he removed to and took charge of the church at 
Somers, only eight miles from Red Mills. 

At the same time, he assumed charge of the Presby- 
terian church at North Salem, N. Y., then a mission 
enterprise, and, besides, for three or four years he was 
principal of the academy at Somers. His work was 
exceedingly arduous, but it was sustained and bright- 
ened by friendships and social endearments which made 
happy his own life and the lives of those of his family. 
The Somers church was transferred to Croton Falls, two 
miles distant, in the year 1843, and Mr. Nimmo removed 
with his family to that place April 3d of that year. 

By his personal efforts, mainly, new church edifices 
were erected both at Croton Fajls and at North Salem. 
The North Salem church was dedicated October 13, 
1847, and the Croton Falls church April 10, 1848. But 
in 1818 his health gave way, and a throat trouble ensued, 
which for many years disabled him from the work of 
the ministry. He again sought relief in the stimulus of 
the ocean air of Long Island, and a few months after, 
wards, having been measurably restored to health, he 
purchased a home at Huntington, Long Island, near the 



13 



.scene of his early ministry, and this remained his place 
of residence until his death. There, for several years, 
he conducted an English and classical school, preparing 
several young men for the ministry. Among this num- 
ber was one of his own sons. This was one of the chief 
joys of his life. 

About the year 1830 he became a warm adherent and 
advocate of the total abstinence temperance movement, 
and he never afterwards used spirituous liquors as a 
beverage. 

When the war of the rebellion broke out, in 181)1, 
Mr. Nimmo was one of the first to utter his voice in 
favor of the Union. A few days after the surrender of 
Fort Sumter the patriotic citizens of Huntington assem- 
bled in mass meeting to assert their devotion to their 
country. Mr. Nimmo was one of the foremost speakers. 
It was his first political speech. He .spoke of his love 
for his native State, Virginia, but declared that his 
allegiance was due first to his country. lie had shoul- 
dered his musket and marched under the starry flag in 
his youth, and he would not turn his back upon it in 
his old age. His sincere, earnest expression of counte- 
nance, his full and beautiful suit of hair, whitened with 
nearly the allotted age of man, and the influence of his 
enthusiasm, his fervid eloquence, his pure character, his 
professional calling, and the knowledge of the sacrifice 
he had made to freedom when entering upon the Chris- 
tian ministry, had great effect. On the street and 
elsewhere, as he had opportunity, he encouraged young 
men to enlist in the cause of liberty and the Union. 

After passing the age of fifty-five Mr. Nimmo enjoyed 
more comfortable health than at any previous period of 



14 



his life. During the years 1850 and 18(iO he temporarily 
had charge of the Presbyterian church at Islip, Long 
Island, which prospered during the period of his ministry. 
In the autumn of 18(54 he was attacked by an internal 
malady, the real nature of which was never known. 
His last hours were brightened by the joyful news of 
the suppression of the great rebellion and the destruc- 
tion of tint power of slavery in the United States. On 
the 19th of April, 18(55, while the country was plunged 
in yrief ami clothed in the habiliments of mourning for 
the death of Abraham Lincoln, this servant of God, 
surrounded by his family, undismayed and unclouded 
as to his mental and spiritual vision, yielded his soul 
calmly and trustfully to his Maker! 

In one respect Mi 1 . Niinmo had an exceptional expe- 
rience in life, which may here be mentioned. As be- 
fore stated, both his parents died while he was a mere 
child. lie never had a sister; and his only brother, 
who was twelve years his senior, survived him several 
years, dying at the age of ninety-four. His wife and 
all his children also survived him. He therefore passed 
through life without ever having experienced the grief 
which results from the loss of father, mother, brother, 
sister, wife, or child. His cousin, Mrs. Margaret 
Nimmo Ellis, of Richmond, Va., whose father was his 
guardian, was unto him as a sister, the two having 
lived together for several years under one roof. She 
also survived him, dying a few years ago at the age of 
eighty-seven. 

The true estimate of the strength and worth of a 
human character must be gained not alone from acts and 
experiences, but also from environing conditions ; not so 



15 



much, perhaps, from what a man lia.s attained unto, as 
from what he has gone through. Mr. Nimmo sprung 
from one of the oldest and most highly respectable fami- 
lies of Virginia. The first of his ancestors, bearing the 
surname of Nimmo, came to this country about the year 
1740, and settled at Norfolk. He was from Mid- 
lothian, near Edinburgh, Scotland. A brother of this 
ancestor, who came over at about the same time, settled 
] at Williamsbugh, then the capital of the colony of Yir- 
) f>{ \ j guiia.. He was a man of considerable wealth, and a 
„ - member of the famous Ohio Company, composed, in the 
V language of the royal charters of that period, of "mer- 
chants and gentlemen." Mr. Nimmo's father was a 
lawyer, and at tin; same time a land-holder and slave- 
owner. On account of his eloquence he w as known as 
" Burke " Nimmo. The early life of the subject of this 
sketch was passed in a social atmosphere, the marked 
characteristics of which were family pride and patrician 
sentiment. The fact that he was left an orphan at the 
early age of six years, with a competency in slave 
property, invited to a life of ease and of pleasure. Be- 
sides, the influence of his surroundings was opposed to 
vigorous and manly effort. But he had a heart, a con- 
science, and an understanding which were the muni- 
ments of a character superior to the accidents of life. 
And when, at the early age of fourteen, he consecrated 
himself to the service of his God, his personal status in 
life and his relations to his fellows were determined by 
a firm belief in the sovereignty of his Maker and the 
brotherhood of man. His early training and associa- 
tions gave him the peculiar ease and grace of manners 
which have always characterized the Southern gentle- 



1G 



man, and his keen perception, charm of personal man- 
ner, and opportunities acquainted him with the best 
usages of social life. He was always and everywhere 
at his ease. He was beloved and respected by the rich 
and the poor, by the high and the low, the religious 
and irreligious. His personal friendship extended to 
men of all religious denominations, and among his 
warmest, admirers and adherents were even those who 
made no pretensions whatever to a religious life. But 
he was ever true to his convictions and his profession, 
and his graceful and never-failing dignity of character 
protected him against any intrusion. At all proper 
times he was outspoken and maul)' in his utterances, 
and yet so modest was lie that he never obtruded him- 
self upon any human being — not even upon his own 
children. His temper was chivalric. He was never 
false to his convictions, his friendships, his affections, 
or his sense of duty. He had a nature touched to 
the finest issues. The world was a little too rough 
for him. He was heavenly minded. His conscience 
was the guiding star of his life 1 , and his trust in God 
was the magnet of his soul. In the memory of 
those who knew him up to the time of his death he 
was never known to speak boastfully or in his own 
praise. The mention of his great act of Christian 
philanthropy in freeing his slaves never passed his lips. 
He was considerate, kind, and deferential to all. He 
was never heard to speak disparagingly or unkindly of 
any one, nor to express a revengeful thought towards 
those who had done him injury, of whom happily there 
were, in all his life, but very few. His manly pride of 
personal character, his nice sense of propriety, and his 



17 



clear perception of duty forbade that he should ever be 
used, or trifled with. His sympathies went out to the 
suffering everywhere, and his afflictions for those he 
loved were strong and enduring. No man was ever 
more free of caprice, affectation, or prejudice. He 
looked habitually upon the better side of human nature, 
and was always more inclined to excuse than to con- 
demn the erring. He had a bright and exceedingly 
cheerful disposition, a keen sense and enjoyment of 
humor, and a remarkably equable temper. He was 
self-possessed, and always exhibited in his deportment 
an admirable repose of manner, which commanded and 
sustained confidence. Mr. Nimnio was about five 
feet five inches in height, liia features were strong and 
well proportioned, and his countenance clearly ex- 
pressed the marked traits of his character. His eyes, 
which were brown and exceedingly beautiful, were his 
most attractive feature. They retained the lustre of 
youth to the end. 

He was a man of fine scholarly tastes and attain- 
ments, and he retained his familiarity with the Latin 
and Greek classics to the close of his life. His learn- 
ing sat not loosely upon him, but was an integral part 
of his personality. He had a critical knowledge of the 
rules and proprieties of speech. His style as a writer 
was simple, unaffected, and direct. There was in his 
sermons no superfiuity of rhetorical figures, and he 
sought always to instruct and to win by direct and 
earnest appeals to the minds and hearts of his hearers. 
His chirography was bold and easily legible; and in his 
work as a student, as in all his personal habits, he was 
neat, orderly, and methodical. 



18 



Mr. Nimmo's method as a preacher was what at this 
particular period might he called " old fashioned," but 
what at some future day may again become new fash- 
ioned. His sermons were strictly logical discourses, and 
conformed to the divisional and sub-divisional methods 
which characterized sermonizing thirty years or more 
ago. He proved scripture by scripture, and sought to 
inculcate practical lessons in Christian living from theo- 
logical truths. E very precept was made to rest upon 
the bed-rock of doctrine, for he believed that doctrine 
is tht 4 foundation of all firm and substantial Christian 
principle ami practice. He depreciated the practice 
which, before his death, seemed to be sweeping the pul- 
pil into the more fascinating habit of mere moral and 
intellectual performances and to appeals; to sentiment, 
rather than to the consciences and the spiritual suscep- 
tibilities of mankind. Already the tendency appears 
to be once more toward the old plan, avoiding, however, 
some of its more stately and artificial characteristics. 
Possessed of a broad, catholic spirit, he was always in- 
clined to be hopeful, and to see possible good even in 
methods diametrically opposed to those which he pur- 
sued. He had an abiding faith in the final and complete 
triumph of the Christian religion, and believed that in 
God's own good time He would bring it to pass. 

His convictions were deep seated and immovable, and 
his principles were ingrafted into the very fibre of his 
being. He was one of the few men who, in the lan- 
guage of the Psalmist, could exclaim from the depths of 
his experience and in all sincerity, "My heart is fixed, 
(iod, my heart is fixed. " And he had the moral courage 
of his religious convictions. When he was approaching 



19 



liis end, he declared calmly but earnestly that he had 
no fear of death, for, as he said, " he had made his peace 
with God when he was only fourteen years of age and 
for the consolement of his sorrowing family, toward 
whom all his thoughts seemed to be directed, he 
entreated them not to think of him as in the grave. It 
is mentioned by Macaulay, in illustration of the exquisite 
urbanity of Charles II, that when near his end he 
apologized to his attendents for the trouble he had given 
them, and " for his unconscionable time in dying." Mr. 
Nimmo gave a no less remarkable proof, upon his death- 
bed, of his innate politeness. One of his sons, who had 
travelled by rail for nearly twenty-four hours in order 
to see his father once more, was holding his hand and 
watching the gradual approach of death. Suddenly he 
looked up, and in a voice scarcely audible — for he was 
then dying — said, 11 My son, I am afraid I fatigue you ; 
you are tired. 1 ' 

If he had been less retiring and unobtrusive in his 
disposition, or had entertained a higher relative estimate 
of his own abilities, his success in life, from a worldly 
point of view, would undoubtedly have been more 
marked, for he was a man of highly respectable talents. 
Many of his discourses were exceedingly eloquent, and 
he received from men of learning and of capable judg- 
ment the highest commendation. But self-depreciation 
seemed to be with him a constitutional trait. His minis- 
trations were, however, in every place effectual in the 
upbuilding of churches; and, besides, the influence of 
his pure, consistent, and stable character made itself 
felt for the good of the world wherever he came in 
contact with men. 



20 



When, at. last, the summons for liis departure came, 
there passed from the scenes of earth to the mansions 
of the blessM, a true patriot, a self-sacrificing pliilantliro- 
pist, a warm and steadfast friend, an affectionate and 
loving husband and father, and a noble-hearted Chris- 
tian gentleman. 



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